4/6/2015
The Chronic-ness of Chronic
Disorganization: What you Don’t
Know May Harm Them
Shoot for the Stars!
NAPO Annual Conference
April 16-18, 2015
Los Angeles, CA
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Learning Objectives
• Identify when disorganization becomes chronic
disorganization
• Identify differences between
collecting/accumulating, cluttering/hoarding
• Recognize the range of factors associated with
chronic disorganization
• Understand the critical role of the Executive
Functions
• Develop strategies for working in households
with both CD and non-CD family members
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Do What You Love
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4/6/2015
30,000 - 300,000
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We all have stuff
Some of us have a bunch of stuff
Others of us have a lot of stuff
Still others seem to have waaaay too much
stuff.
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Collections, Accumulations, Hoards
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Collections & Accumulations
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HOARDING
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What Does Chronic Look Like?
Outward Clutter
Hidden Clutter
Hoarding or CD?
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Situational Disorganization
• Temporary
• Transitional
• Life cycle changes
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Challenging Disorganization
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Slow to decide
Get help or not get help
“I’ll get to this later”
Unsure where to start
“I should be able to do this”
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Your 5 Most Difficult Clients
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Chronic Disorganization
• A lá Judith Kolberg…
– Persistence of severe disorganization over a long
period of time
– A daily undermining of one’s quality of life by
disorganization
– A history of failed self help efforts
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4/6/2015
Chronic Disorganization Continuum
Left
Brained
Chronically
Organized
Right
Brained
Level 1-2
Level 5
C.H. Scale
Hoarding
Level 3-4
ADHD/ADD
C.H. Scale
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An Integrated View
Chronic
Disorganization
Challenging
Disorganization
Hoarding Disorder
Situational
Disorganization
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Chronically Disorganized people are NOT:
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Lazy
Stupid
Ignorant
Unenlightened
Mindless
Naïve or oblivious
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4/6/2015
What We May Hear
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It’s always been this way.
I can’t remember a time when…
I’ve always been ashamed of this.
I never have anyone over.
My mother was just like this.
I keep meaning to get to it.
I just don’t have time!
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Are You Chronically Disorganized?
A questionnaire to determine if you are Chronically Disorganized
Answer the following questions yes or no.
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Source: ICD Fact Sheet 001
www.challengingdisorganization.org
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Factors Associated with Disorganization
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Source: ICD Fact Sheet #004,
www.challengingdisorganization.org
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4/6/2015
Factors Associated with Disorganization…continued
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The Function of Executive Function
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Executive Function at Work
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Make plans
On time
Make goals, meet goals
“To Do”  To Done!
Linear thinking
Organized
Analyze task/multi-task
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4/6/2015
Executive Dysfunction
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“Look! Squirrel!”
Hyper-focus (to the detriment of all else)
Easily overwhelmed
Unorganized
Weak working memory
Difficulty managing frustration, emotions
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Warning Signs:
When EF isn’t working well
• Difficulty planning projects (A(b, c) D)
• Time to completion not understood
• Story telling (verbal/written) hard to
organize/sequence
• Memorizing/working memory difficult to retrieve
• Challenged to initiate activities & tasks
• Decision-making extremely difficult
• Retaining information while doing (e.g.
remembering number while dialing)
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Chronic and Pervasive
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Difficulty bouncing back
No coping skills
Each life transition a challenge
Low financial acumen
Tendency to collect crises
Procrastinator and/or perfectionist
Focus on process vs. person
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4/6/2015
Person-centered:
At work with our CD clients
• Be openly curious (Ask a lot of
questions!)
• What makes them tick?
• Have they tried to organize on their
own?
• What do they know DOES NOT
work?
• How/when do they work best?
• What does progress look like?
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Processing Modalities
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Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic
Tactile
Taste/Smell
Verbal
Emotional
Cognitive
Intuitive
Source: The Processing Modalities
Guide, Denslow Brown, MCC, CPO,
CPO-CD
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It Takes A Village
Chronic does not mean permanent
• Life Coach
• Professional Organizer with eye on
maintenance
• House cleaner
• Therapist
• Productivity Specialist
• Body double/ personal assistant
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4/6/2015
Transfer of Knowledge and Skills
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Make your own rules
Better relationship to time
Keep it simple
Your curiosity will help here
Candid discussions re: maintenance
What do they need to know?
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What’s in your toolkit?
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Backsliding? Expect it.
• Called Chronic for a reason
• The relationship between what’s in their head
and under their bed.
• Be openly curious: what didn’t work?
• Talk about the work as a process.
• How’s the Village coming along?
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4/6/2015
Maintenance:
Our bread and butter
The clutter is gone, now what?
• Design Maintenance programs/packages:
– Monthly? Quarterly?
– Project based?
– Make less chronic
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Next Steps…
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Decide about working with CD clients
What are your personal limits?
Do you need further education?
If not you, who?
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Resources
• Institute for Challenging Disorganization:
www.ChallengingDisorganization.org
• Jeffrey Freed, M.A.T. and Laurie Parsons, Right-Brained Children: Unlocking
the Potential of your ADD Child. Simon and Shuster, 1997.
• Randy Frost, et. al., Development and Validation of the Clutter Image
Rating Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 30(3), 193203. 2008.
• Judith Kolberg, Getting Organized in the Era of Endless, Squall Press, 2013.
• Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D. ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize
Your Life. Brunner/Routledge, 2002.
• Judith Kolberg. Conquering Chronic Disorganization, Squall Press, Inc.,
1999.
• Regina F. Lark, Ph.D., CPO,® CPO-CD®. Psychic Debris, Crowded Closets: The
Relationship Between the Stuff in Your Head and What's Under your Bed.
2d ed. Purple Books Publishing, 2014.
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4/6/2015
Resources
• Lanna Nakone, M.A. Organizing for your Brain Type. St. Martin's
Press, 2005.
• Lee Silber, Organizing from the Right Side of the Brain: A Creative
Approach to Getting Organized. St. Martin's Griffin, 2004.
• Sari Solden. Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace your
Difference and Transform your Life. Underwood Books, 2005.
• David Tolin, Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee. Buried in Treasures:
Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding Treatments
That Work. Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Michael Tompkins and Tamara Hartl. Digging Out: Helping Your
Loved Ones Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring.
New Harbinger Publications, 2009.
• Kate Varness, CPO-CD,® ed., The ICD Guide to Challenging
Disorganization. Institute for Challenging Disorganization, 2012.
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Special thanks to… Judith Kolberg and Sue
West for our valuable conversations.
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@AClearPath
/ReginaLark
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Regina F. Lark, Ph.D.
CPO©, CPO-CD©
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